The company said the increase on Dec. 1 would push up the typical annual gas bill by 55.68 pounds to 650 pounds ($1,035) and affect about 3.6 million customers, piling more pressure on consumers grappling with big government spending cuts.

"The last few months have been marked by rising wholesale gas prices and, having absorbed losses in our gas supply business for some time, we can not delay an increase in retail prices any longer," Alistair Phillips-Davies, energy supply director at SEE, said in a statement on Friday.

Phillips-Davies said he was sorry the price increase would take place during winter but noted that wholesale gas prices had increased over 25 percent since SSE last implemented price changes in March 2010.

Thursday, 28 October 2010

It has been called the holy grail of energy technology; a perfectly clean source with an unlimited supply. Nuclear fusion has been demonstrated to be possible, but converting it to a viable energy source remains technically elusive. However, research on making fusion energy reality is in progress, and there are some who are convinced that there will be a day when this free and abundant source will arrive.

Our current nuclear technology, fission, is the breaking of the atomic nucleus, which releases massive amounts of energy. For a fusion reaction, the nuclei of two atoms fuse together to form a heavier nucleus. The resulting release of energy is incredibly large. To put it in perspective, fusion is the power of the sun, a force strong enough to heat a planet that is 93 million miles away.

The fuels for a fusion reaction are the hydrogen isotopes, deuterium and tritium, which are abundantly found in seawater. Experts estimate that there is enough deuterium in seawater to last practically forever. Riccardo Betti, professor at the University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics and a leading expert on nuclear fusion, believes that the deuterium found in one cubic kilometer of seawater is equivalent in terms of energy to the entire world's oil supply.

The Co-operative Group has expressed disappointment over the changes to the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) energy efficiency scheme, which it said has effectively turned into a new business tax.

Under the original scheme, participating organisations have to buy allowances based on their level of electricity usage, with all revenue raised to be recycled to businesses. Those who performed the best in increasing energy efficiency would have received a higher share of this money.

However, in last week's Spending Review, the government said it would be taking these revenues "to support the public finances". In addition, the first allowance sales for 2011-12 emissions will now take place in 2012 rather than 2011.

"Revenues from allowance sales totalling £1 billion a year by 2014-15 will be used to support the public finances, including spending on the environment, rather than recycled to participants. Further decisions on allowance sales are a matter for the Budget process," the government said.

The Co-operative Group said it felt it was being penalised as it had planned to reinvest the revenue into the business.

Smart meter deployment in the UK is set to be the most expensive in the world, according to new research. Business information service Datamonitor released a report today that said the global smart metering market for residential customers is set to reach £3.6 billion by 2015 - a 350 per cent increase from 2009. But it said the roll-out of smart metering deployment in the UK would in some case cost double what it would in other territories. "The UK solution looks very expensive compared to, say, France where ERDF expects to drive down the cost of its meters to £28-£30. The equivalent figure for the UK's meters is around £57," said Jon Lane, energy director at Datamonitor.

The higher costs are down to the sophisticated nature of the UK smart meter system, according to Datamonitor. It said the roll-out would involve multi-utilities with a central communications provider to collect and provide metering data to market participants and a centralised procurement programme to deliver economies of scale.

First Utility started rolling out energy-efficient smart gas and power meters across Britain on Wednesday, becoming the first UK energy provider to do so, the independent utility company said.

"Households across the UK can now take advantage of the benefits that smart meters bring -- from increased visibility of their energy usage through to accurate bills," Chief Executive Mark Daeche said.

Smart meters -- which supply real-time energy usage data to the energy provider and customers -- are seen as the first step in developing a smart power grid to help balance the installation of intermittent renewable electricity generation.

The U.K.'s Isle of Grain LNG terminal will receive a liquefied natural gas cargo from Qatar this week, AISLive data shows. The Al Huwaila, which can carry 214,176 cubic meters of the fuel cooled to a liquid, will arrive at the terminal east of London on Oct. 31, according to the data. The Isle of Grain can import 9.8 million tons of LNG a year. Centrica Plc, GDF Suez SA, Algeria's Sonatrach and BP Plc have import capacity at the port. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-26/u-k-s-grain-to-receive-lng-cargo-oct-31-aislive-data-show.html

Wednesday, 27 October 2010

British gas prices eased across the board on Tuesday as supply from Norway was strong and French port strikes raised the likelihood for more liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo diversions to Britain, traders said. The BW Suez Everett LNG tanker which was destined for Montoir in France has been diverted to Britain's Isle of Grain terminal.

MPs will this week consider whether keeping British Summer Time (BST) throughout the winter and putting the clocks forward an additional hour in summer would drastically reduce the UK's energy use.

Campaign groups have long claimed that extending BST through the winter, rather than falling back to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), would result in lower bills as homes and businesses use less business energy when evenings are lighter.

A study published earlier this year also found that about 447,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions would have been saved if the clocks were not put back each year between 2001 and 2008, equating to electricity savings of 885GWh - enough to supply 200,000 households - and a reduction in peak demand of 4.3 per cent.

On Thursday the Energy and Climate Change Committee (ECCC) will hear evidence from the lead researcher of that study, Dr Elizabeth Garnsey of Cambridge University's Department of Engineering. The hearing comes just days before the UK once again resets to GMT.

Monday, 25 October 2010

Non-OPEC producer Bahrain has almost finalised a tender inviting companies to build a $600 million liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, an executive from the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) said on Monday.

"The RFP (request for proposals) will be out today or tomorrow," Essa al-Ansari, general manager at Bapco for major engineering projects told reporters on the sidelines of a conference.

He said it would take the 14 international oil firms that are qualified to bid around 16 weeks to submit their final offers.

The terminal would cost at least $600 million, Ansari said, with a capacity of 400 million cubic feet per day (cfd), which may be expanded to 800 million cfd.

Centrica, the UK's biggest energy firm is considering abandoning its £1.5 billion plans to build two gas storage facilities in the North Sea.

The energy group, which owns British Gas and Scottish Gas, needs financial help from the Government to subsidise the project, which would increase Britain's storage capacity by one-third.

A final investment decision is due to be taken early next year, but it is understood in the current economic climate the projects will be shelved by Centrica.

Gas prices fell to a new low for the year in New York last Thursday after the US Government reported that American supplies grew more than expected in the preceding week.

The US Energy Information Administration said stocks of natural gas held in underground storage grew by 93 billion cubic feet.

The larger of the two Centrica projects, being led by construction firm Baird, would hold 1.7 billion cubic metres of gas, while the second facility developed by Bains would hold 570 million cubic metres.

The move will be a blow for the Coalition Government, which has set a target of increasing Britain's gas security as the country becomes increasingly reliant on imported supplies.

British prompt gas prices firmed early on Monday as supply from liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals dropped and as traders expected lower withdrawals from storage sites would reduce supply later in the session.

Gas for delivery on Tuesday rose to 47.95 pence per therm, up 0.45 pence from Friday's session, while gas for immediate delivery was 0.55 higher at 48.05 pence.

"The length (abundant supply available) is caused largely by storage withdrawals, which don't make sense, so they will be priced off pretty quickly," said a British gas trader.

Friday, 22 October 2010

China may more than quadruple imports of liquefied natural gas in the six years through 2015 because of increased consumption of the cleaner-burning fuel, said an official from the nation's only builder of LNG vessels. Imports may rise to 25 million metric tons a year as the nation's energy demand is climbing, Shen Ning, vice director of business and marketing at Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co., said in an interview in Shanghai yesterday. Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding has built all of the nation's LNG tankers. China's LNG imports surged 66 percent to 5.5 million tons last year from a year earlier. The world's biggest polluting nation wants to triple the use of gas to about 10 percent of energy consumption by 2020. The shipbuilding company, a unit of China State Shipbuilding Corp., has delivered five LNG vessels to transport the fuel to domestic terminals and is building another 145,000 cubic-meter LNG tanker, Shen said. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-22/china-s-lng-imports-may-more-than-quadruple-by-2015-lng-shipbuilder-says.html

Thursday, 21 October 2010

The government should go for a single, long-range radio-based network, separate it from existing networks, and classify it as critical national infrastructure, says the SmartReach consortium in its submission on the UK's £10bn smart meter project.

The consortium, which consists of BT, Arqiva and Detica, was responding to government calls for ideas on how to equip 26 million premises with 47 million new smart meters for gas and electricity. The aim is to cut energy use and lower the country's CO2 emissions by 2.6 million tonnes a year.

SmartReach is pitching for the network that would link all the meters to central or regional processing centres.

It said a single network would cut costs compared to having several service provider contracts, and would reduce system integration risks. It called for government to speed up deployment plans and to do things in parallel. Procurement should start in early 2011, it said. This would reduce risk by allowing more time for procurement and testing. It would also speed up returns on investment and carbon savings.

Gas for Friday traded at 47.85 pence per therm at 1133 GMT, up 0.40 pence from the previous session day-ahead close, while November was up 0.25 pence at 47.35 pence ($7.48 per mmbtu) and December increased 0.45 pence 48.90 pence.

"Storage flows are down. Langeled's flowing 57 mcm (million cubic metres) instead of 65 or 70, so just tightening the system and the curve is going with it," one gas trader said.

National Grid data showed Rough flows fell 14 mcm to 6 mcm early in the session before resuming withdrawals, while Langeled dropped around 6 mcm. Supplies were tight, with Thursday UK business gas demand forecast to be 45 mcm above seasonal norms at 337 mcm, National Grid website showed.

Britain's coalition government will stick to its promise to be the greenest ever despite huge cuts in public spending, Secretary for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) Chris Huhne told Reuters on Tuesday. Government departments have been told to cut their budgets by 25 to 40 percent over the next four years to help reduce the national deficit, with the results of the spending review due on Wednesday.

The review could impact funding for renewables energy schemes such as an offshore wind port infrastructure competition and solar power feed-in tariffs.

"We're not going to be put off by the small matter of the public spending review," Huhne said on the sidelines of the European Future Energy Forum conference.

But he declined to comment on whether the 60 million pound ($94.69 million) port competition would go ahead, despite media reports that it would survive the cuts.

Government in the UK has approved plans for eight sites where nuclear power plants will be operational by 2025. The approval puts the UK in the position of being a leader in the area of nuclear renewable energy.

According to guardian.co.uk, the backing for a new generation of nuclear power stations marks a significant political compromise by the climate and energy secretary, Chris Huhne, after the Liberal Democrats had campaigned against new nuclear in the general election. The Conservatives, however, had backed new nuclear power stations. Today's announcement by the Department of Energy and Climate Change will see nuclear power plants operating at eight sites within the next decade: Bradwell, Essex; Hartlepool; Heysham, Lancashire; Hinkley Point, Somerset; Oldbury, South Gloucestershire; Sellafield, Cumbria; Sizewell, Suffolk and Wylfa, Anglesey. All are in the vicinity of existing nuclear power plants. Huhne said: "I'm fed up with the stand-off between advocates of renewables and of nuclear which means we have neither. We urgently need investment in new and diverse energy sources to power the UK." The coalition has stressed that new reactors will have to be built without public money. Earlier this year, energy minister Charles Hendry told a nuclear industry audience: "The coalition agreement clearly sees a role for new nuclear, provided that there is no public subsidy. We are clear. It is for private sector energy companies to construct, operate and decommission new nuclear plants. It will be for us to ensure the appropriate levels of safety, security and environmental regulation."

Tuesday, 19 October 2010

The cost of offshore wind "deployment" in the UK may have been reached its peak, concludes a detailed investigation of the reasons behind dramatically rising costs that affected the offshore wind sector during the 2005-2009 period. Achieving significant cost reductions will require concerted and thoughtful action by policymakers, argues a report by the technology and policy assessment division of the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC).

Presented as a "thorough review of the current state of knowledge" on the cost of developing offshore wind farms in the UK, the report disaggregates key cost components, suggesting that while "meaningful" cuts are unlikely during the period to 2015, there are grounds for "cautious optimism" that costs will have fallen significantly by the mid-2020s, perhaps by 20%. The report also stresses that rising costs should not be viewed as a complete surprise, since many "emerging technologies" experience a period when costs rise quickly.

Smart energy meters are being installed by electricity suppliers across the UK.

They are the latest digital devices that allow utility companies and their customers to keep an eye on consumption of electricity and gas.

The Government planned for every home in the UK to have a smart meter installed by the year 2020, although the reluctance of some power companies to install them means we may not see them appearing en masse until around 2013.

However, some utility companies have begun trials and others have said they will start soon.

The first company to issue smart meters was the aptly named First Utility, which has been installing the meters in homes of new customers since September 2008. British Gas has also started sending out what it calls Energysmart meters to customers on certain tariffs.

What is a smart meter? Smart meters are not to be confused with the home energy monitors that you may have seen (we have reviewed several). Those monitors are known in the industry as indirect metering devices.

They work by having a sensor clamped on to the live supply wire of your home's electricity to measure the consumption based on the signals coming through the wire.

Every year, hundreds of "Top 10" Lists are posted online. You've seen them all before: The Top 10 Greenest Colleges in America, The Top 10 Creative Websites, The Top 10 Sexiest Bachelors in America, The Top 10 Pieces of Food That Look Like Giraffes, and The Top 10 Chuck Norris Quotes. There are countless Top 10 Lists and that is completely fine--lists help us organize and clarify.

However, it is important to filter out the junky lists from the informative ones; otherwise, you could spend an entire day staring down an infinite online-abyss of lists. If there are thousands of lists out there, which can you trust? Which are accurate?

In an effort to provide direction in the Triple Bottom Line realm, we've put together a Top 10 List of some informative TBL-related "Top 10" Lists online. Yes, a Top 10 List of Top 10 lists:

NI's new energy strategy sets a target of 40% of electricity to come from alternative energy sources by 2020. The strategy aims to reduce reliance on fuels such as coal, gas and oil. Less than 10% of NI's electricity is currently generated from alternative energy, mainly land-based wind farms. Reaching the target will need large offshore wind farms, tidal turbines like Seagen in Strangford Lough and even using energy from controversial sources including waste incinerators.

BBC Northern Ireland environment correspondent Mike McKimm this process would not be cheap and could add as much as £100 to consumer bills. "The alternative though would leave us at the mercy of international oil and gas prices which are expected to rise dramatically over the next few years," he added. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11416418

Monday, 18 October 2010

Good Energy Group Plc reported that its six-month ended 30 June 2010 profit increased to GBP 246,121 from GBP 169,681 in the previous year. On a per share basis, profit was 3.1 pence, up from 2.2 pence in the prior year period.

Profit before tax increased to GBP 365,254 from GBP 273,157 last year.

Revenue rose 5.5% to GBP 10.21 million, from GBP 9.68 million, mainly as a result of the increase in customer numbers for both gas and electricity.

Utility companies were warned they would be held to account over mistakes that lead to disrupted services following the fallout from June's power cut.

At a public meeting last Tuesday the council's environment, sustainability and community scrutiny committee questionned energy company EDF over power cuts, which saw thousands of Twickenham residents miss England's World Cup goal against the US. Committee chairman Councillor David Porter said: "It is important utility companies know they have to answer for any mistakes that are made." The review of the failure which left homes, shops and businesses without power revealed a faulty component in the ultra-high voltage power cable network between Laleham and Twickenham. http://www.richmondandtwickenhamtimes.co.uk/news/8412974.EDF_to_be_held_to_account_over_World_Cup_power_cut/

The UK government should build a home-grown wind power industry if it wants to meet EU targets on renewable energy, a report concludes.

The UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) says this would significantly bring down the costs of offshore wind power.

The price of building offshore wind farms in has doubled in five years.

The report, Great Expectations, suggests that the UK can learn from countries such as Spain that recently boosted their wind power industries. Analysts suggest that in order to meet its EU target of producing 15% of its energy through renewables by 2020, the UK will need to have 15-20 gigawatts (GW) of wind energy capacity installed offshore. Despite some recent developments such as the opening of the Thanet wind farm off the north Kent coast - the biggest offshore wind farm in the world - the UK's current total capacity offshore is just under 1.5GW.

Friday, 15 October 2010

GLOBAL supplies of conventional oil are likely to peak by 2030, with a "significant risk" of a peak before 2020, a new assessment by the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) has concluded.

"There is a growing consensus that the age of cheap oil is coming to an end," the UKERC study, "Global Oil Depeletion", says.

The authors warn that without early investment in strategies to reduce oil demand and deliver new energy sources, dwindling supplies of cost-effective energy from conventional oil could cramp the global economy.

The US Department of Energy has calculated that such investment would need to begin at least 20 years before oil supplies peak to avoid serious energy shortfalls.

UKERC acknowledges that there a large uncertainties in predicting the timing of "peak oil", but argues that there is sufficient information available to make an adequate assessment.

It puts the timing of "peak oil" somewhere between 2009 and 2030.

"Although this range appears wide in the light of forecasts of an imminent peak, it may be a relatively narrow window in terms of the lead time to develop substitute fuels," the authors say.

Energy supplier Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) has assured the market it is on course to deliver on its pledge of above-inflation dividend increases.

The company has set a principal financial objective for 2010/11 of an increase in the dividend of at least two percentage points above the Retail Prices Index inflation rate while maintaining a dividend cover consistent with its established range, and said it is on course to meet this objective.

Prior to entering its close period on 1 October prior to announcing its results on 10 November, the company gave a quick round-up of progress on its major projects. On the most advanced of the projects, the Clyde onshore wind farm, the first turbines have been delivered to the site and work on installation is due to start this autumn. http://www.sharecast.com/cgi-bin/sharecast/story.cgi?story_id=3717474

More support is needed to boost a "home-grown" offshore wind industry in the UK, to reduce the high costs of the green energy source, a report said yesterday.

Offshore wind costs have risen sharply over the past few years, despite expectations when the technology was first deployed a decade ago that the cost of building wind farms and generating electricity would fall substantially over time.

Around 80 per cent of the average offshore wind farm is currently imported from abroad, and support is needed to develop innovation and a better supply chain in the UK to help cut costs, the report from the UK Energy Research Centre said.

The industry has been at the mercy of commodity price increases, fluctuations in currencies and supply chain shortages and bottlenecks, as well as delays in the planning system which saw the average wind farm take seven to nine years to get up and running.

The report's chief author, Robert Gross, head of technology and policy assessment at UKERC, said: "The UK is not yet fully benefiting from being a world leader in the field; in effect UK consumers are subsidising Danish and German wind energy companies.

"This report suggests that policies could do more both to bear down on costs and support a UK-based industry."

While costs have risen for all types of energy over the past five years, in offshore wind power the rise has been particularly dramatic, and the sector is not likely to see meaningful falls before 2015.

The report said offshore wind was still in its infancy, adding that many developing technologies went through a period where costs rose before they fell. The report calls for "targeted and direct" support for the supply chain to develop a UK-based industry, while funding for innovation in offshore wind technology should be given a priority in research, development and deployment programmes.

The study also said the government should revise the payments to energy companies for generating renewable energy from offshore wind so that they send a long-term signal that support levels would gradually decrease over time - putting the onus on firms to reduce costs.

Thursday, 14 October 2010

With the potential to generate 15GWh of electricity each year, the UK's first large scale anaerobic digester to run purely on energy crops is nearing full production. Andy Collings reports

Take 37,000t of forage maize, 2500t of whole-crop wheat, a £15m digester and two 1500hp, V-20, 60-litre engines and you have the means to generate 15GWh of electricity each year - enough to power 4000 homes.

Severn Trent Water's latest project - the UK's first large-scale anaerobic digester to run wholly on energy crops - is on schedule to meet an end-of-year deadline for full electricity production.

A company keen to exploit renewable energy, Severn Trent has no fewer than 52 gas-powered engines on 35 water treatment sites. Total production last year was 183GWh, representing 20% of the company's annual electricity bill. The new digester, however, based at Stoke Bardolph, Nottinghamshire, is in another league. Work started in the spring of 2009 with the construction of five large silage clamps - each of which can hold about 7500t of ensiled maize or whole crop wheat. http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2010/09/29/123704/Severn-Trent-invests-in-biogas-to-meet-renewable-targets.htm

European utilities including Scottish & Southern Energy Plc and RWE AG will struggle to invest the 938 billion euros ($1.27 trillion) needed to meet climate change targets and replace aging power plants and networks by 2020, according to Citigroup Inc. "Governments in Europe appear to believe that the utility sector can more than double its historic capital expenditure and sustain that for ten years," Citigroup analysts led by Peter Atherton and Manuel Palomo said today in a note to investors. "Many governments are ignoring the facts on the ground and taking no account of their own actions." Utilities in Germany, France, Spain, the U.K. and Italy will face a financing shortage of about 277 billion euros as they seek to replace nuclear reactors, build new gas-fired power plants and invest in offshore wind projects, the analysts said. Total spending of 653 billion euros will "stretch the sector balance sheets to the limits," they said. The 27-nation European Union aims to more than double the share of energy from renewable sources, including wind and solar power, to an average 20 percent by 2020. Many of the continent's power stations and electricity networks were built in the 1960s and 1970s and need to be replaced, the analysts said. The average age of a combined-cycle gas turbine power plant is 33 years in the U.K. and 30 years in Germany, they said. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-29/rwe-scottish-southern-lack-cash-to-meet-climate-targets-citigroup-says.html

There's an energy revolution brewing right under our feet. Over the past decade, a wave of drilling around the world has uncovered giant supplies of natural gas in shale rock. By some estimates, there's 1,000 trillion cubic feet recoverable in North America alone-enough to supply the nation's natural-gas needs for the next 45 years. Europe may have nearly 200 trillion cubic feet of its own.

We've always known the potential of shale; we just didn't have the technology to get to it at a low enough cost. Now new techniques have driven down the price tag-and set the stage for shale gas to become what will be the game-changing resource of the decade.

I have been studying the energy markets for 30 years, and I am convinced that shale gas will revolutionize the industry-and change the world-in the coming decades. It will prevent the rise of any new cartels. It will alter geopolitics. And it will slow the transition to renewable energy.

To understand why, you have to consider that even before the shale discoveries, natural gas was destined to play a big role in our future. As environmental concerns have grown, nations have leaned more heavily on the fuel, which gives off just half the carbon dioxide of coal. But the rise of gas power seemed likely to doom the world's consumers to a repeat of OPEC, with gas producers like Russia, Iran and Venezuela coming together in a cartel and dictating terms to the rest of the world.

Wednesday, 13 October 2010

The Environment Agency is increasingly confident that the vast majority of organisations required to participate in the government's Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) scheme will meet this week's deadline to register.

BusinessGreen.com has learned that between 2,600 and 2,700 organisations have now registered as full participants in the scheme, meaning that the Environment Agency is just a few hundred short of the roughly 3,000 organisations it expects to be covered by the scheme.

The government had originally said that around 5,000 businesses and public sector bodies would be required to take part in the carbon pricing and energy efficiency scheme. However, it has subsequently revised the number of full participants down after a larger than expected number of conglomerates registered with the Environment Agency, meaning that between 3,000 and 3,500 organisations are now expected to participate in the scheme.

"We are expecting another couple of hundred to register before the Thursday deadline and are hopeful that we will get through the 3,000 mark," said a spokeswoman for the agency, which is tasked with managing the scheme.

Under the rules of the CRC, organisations which use more than 6,000MWh of electricity a year must register as participants in the scheme and provide annual information on their energy use. Meanwhile, all organisations with a half-hourly electricity meter have to register as an information declarer, confirming that they do not use enough energy to qualify for the scheme.

"Communication with the Public," the title of an interactive session at the Global

Shale Gas Forum in Berlin, Germany, is not an easy task, especially when it comes to reaching out to the public on energy-related projects that may affect them.

Prof. Mike Stephenson, Head of Science, Energy at the British Geological Survey, offered a case study example of how things can go awry.

"In the UK we've been working quite intensively on carbon capture storage (CCS), introducing storing gas in salt," he said. "In Britain we've been doing it for many many years, and it's known as one of the safest ways of storing gas."

Stephenson said the site in question was near Blackpool, where concerned citizens came to the fore after hearing about the construction of a CCS facility "in their back yards."

"They are retired people, people with access to the Internet, people worried about their house prices," he explained. "They had a bourgeois reaction."

"Just Google 'gas storage accident'," suggested Stephenson. "That was enough to kick start an enormous campaign against gas storage, and it became an easy way to make gas storage a frightening thing among the public."

He said this was a shame in that Britain had only nine days of reserve gas storage compared to Germany's 70 days.

"I imagine that the reaction to shale gas will be similar," he stated.

Stephenson said that he had been engaged in a research project with Cambridge University on acceptance of numerous energy issues, like CCS. "The public are invited to a venue where I've given talks, I'm asked to leave and then psychologists and sociologists monitor their opinions. Basically, the result is you see extraordinary levels of ignorance from the public."

Tuesday, 12 October 2010

IMServ, a leading carbon and energy consultancy and part of Invensys Operation Management, has won its biggest ever contract with BT, the UK's largest telecoms provider. IMServ has been working with BT for the last nine years and the contract renewal follows a competitive tender process.

The five year contract comprises the collection of data relating to electricity consumption from Half Hourly and Non Half Hourly automated meters (AMRs), managing an existing portfolio of 20,000 meters throughout the UK mainland and the highlands. In addition, IMServ will provide further meters for Openreach to support the roll out of Super Fast Broadband. IMServ will also provide meters to BT for its submetering tenants to monitor electricity in their telephone exchanges.

We have had an excellent working relationship with IMServ to date and we needed a safe pair of hands to deliver a project of this scale."

Steve Brown, Managing Director, IMServ commented on the deal: "This deal with BT is fantastic for the business and it reflects our expertise in complex, large scale AMR installations. It's a great endorsement from BT that our nine year relationship has been extended and this contract represents the largest so far in 2010." http://www.technologynewsroom.com/press_releases/company_releases.aspx?story=1621

Britain's so-called "dash for wind" means that it is now the biggest off shore generator - producing as much as the rest of the world put together. But costs of building the farms have doubled due to spiralling prices for steel and the drop in the value of the pound. The running costs are also increasing. The report found that costs have risen for all kinds of generation but off shore wind farms remain by far the most expensive - 90 per cent more than fossil fuel generators and 50 per cent more than nuclear. The news is bound to lead to question over the government's policy of using wind power to meet its target to generate around a third of its electricity from renewables by 2020. But the authors of the report at the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC), a government think tank, said they remained "cautiously optimistic" that wind can play a significant contribution to the zero carbon energy production for Britain. "We think that there are grounds for cautious optimism," said Dr Robert Gross, of Imperial College London, who headed the report. "Yes it is more expensive than gas and coal and is unlikely to reach parity for at least 20 years but we still think it is a worthwhile energy producer.

"All alternatives such as nuclear and carbon capture are bound to have teething problems too." With the opening of Thanet wind farm in the North Sea last week Britain became the biggest offshore wind generator in the world. The world's biggest ocean wind farm off Foreness Point, Kent, it has 100 turbines, each measuring more than 300ft, and will power more than 200,000 homes. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/windpower/8028328/Britains-offshore-windpower-costs-twice-as-much-as-coal-and-gas-generated-electricity.html

Energy minister Charles Hendry is actively considering moving the target date for the UK's universal rollout of domestic smart meters forward from 2020 to 2018, in a move designed to accelerate ambitious plans requiring tens of thousands of smart meters to be installed each week for much of the next decade. Earlier this summer, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) released its Smart Meter Prospectus, confirming the coalition wants to "accelerate significantly" the rollout of smart meters compared with the previous government's published targets.

Industry sources have now confirmed Hendry is pushing both energy firms and market watchdog Ofgem to investigate moving the target date forward by two years as part of efforts designed to make smart meters a central component of the coalition's climate change strategy.

"Charles Hendry talks regularly about reaching a 2018 target," said Stephen Cunningham, chief executive for the UK and Ireland at smart meter giant Landis+Gyr. "That is helping a more ambitious target get baked into Ofgem's thinking."

BusinessGreen.com has also learned that Ofgem wrote to energy suppliers and smart meter firms earlier this month requesting information on whether an accelerated rollout is technically and economically feasible.

In particular, it asks for information on the "magnitude, timing and probability of any increased costs and risks" associated with an earlier target date and a view on "the likelihood of any supply chain or other constraints arising".

Monday, 11 October 2010

As many as two-thirds of the 20,000 UK businesses that will be affected by the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC) do not have sufficient software systems in place to analyse their performance.

This is according to an independent report released today by ERP software provider IFS.

This information comes the day before registration closes for the Environment Agency scheme, which stipulates that businesses must constantly monitor electricity, gas and static fuel use.

Alastair Sorbie, CEO of IFS, said: "Like a lot of initiatives originating from Europe, not enough attention is being paid to the immediacy of the CRC.

"You can't hide from the fact that many UK businesses now have to build these systems to track and report on environmental impact. Non-compliance will affect your business."

Sorbie's comments come after a recent report from British Gas Business, highlighting the fact that thousands of UK businesses that qualify for CRC monitoring and should have registered by 30 September have not yet done so, even though this could mean a fine of up to £45,000.

To qualify for the CRC, a business has to have had a total half-hourly electricity consumption of over 6,000 mega watt-hours during 2008.

Siemens AG is planning to enlarge its presence in Russia by setting up the Russian Turbo Machinery joint venture to manufacture compressors in Perm. "The first compressor is to be built in 2011 and the first order is expected in October", Siemens Energy Sales Department Director in Russia Sergey Kuzmin told journalists during a news conference. The project envisions an investment of 60 million euros to build new, greenfield production facility and production capacity increases over the next three years. http://www.oilandgaseurasia.com/articles/p/125/article/1318/

Friday, 8 October 2010

I recently co-authored an article for the Journal of Physics ("Solid-state lighting: an energy-economics perspective" by Jeff Tsao, Harry Saunders, Randy Creighton, Mike Coltrin, Jerry Simmon, August 19, 2010) analyzing the increase in energy consumption that will likely result from new (and more efficient) solid-state lighting (SSL) technologies. The article triggered a round of commentaries and responses that have confused the debate over energy efficiency. What follows is my attempt to clarify the issue, and does not necessarily represent the views of my co-authors.

More Efficient Lighting Will Increase, Not Decrease, Energy Consumption

Our Journal of Physics article drew on 300 years of evidence to shows that, as lighting becomes more energy efficient, and thus cheaper, we use ever-more of it. The result, we note, is that "over the last three centuries, and even now, the world spends about 0.72% of its GDP on light. This was the case in the UK in 1700 (UK 1700), is the case in the undeveloped world not on grid electricity in modern times, and is the case for the developed world in modern times using the most advanced lighting technologies."

The implications of this research are important for those who care about global warming. In recent years, more efficient light bulbs have been widely viewed as an important step to reducing energy consumption and thus greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Moreover, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of the United Nations and the International Energy Agency (IEA) have produced analyses that assume energy efficiency technologies will provide a substantial part of the remedy for climate change by reducing global energy consumption approximately 30 percent -- a reduction nearly sufficient to offset projected economic growth-driven energy consumption increases. Many have come to believe that new, highly-efficient, solid-state lighting -- generally LED technology, like that used on the displays of stereo consoles, microwaves, and digital clocks -- will result in reduced energy consumption. We find the opposite is true, concluding "that there is a massive potential for growth in the consumption of light if new lighting technologies are developed with higher luminous efficacies and lower cost of light." The good news is that increased light consumption has historically been tied to higher productivity and quality of life. The bad news is that energy efficient lighting should not be relied upon as means of reducing aggregate energy consumption, and therefore emissions. We thus write: "These conclusions suggest a subtle but important shift in how one views the baseline consequence of the increased energy efficiency associated with SSL. The consequence is not a simple 'engineering' decrease in energy consumption with consumption of light fixed, but rather an increase in human productivity and quality of life due to an increase in consumption of light." This phenomenon has come to be known as the energy "rebound" effect. http://rogerpielkejr.blogspot.com/2010/09/why-energy-efficiency-does-not-decrease.html

Southwest Windpower´s turbine is now MCS Certified Southwest Windpower, the world´s leading supplier of small wind generators, has received product certification for its Skystream 3.7(R) wind turbines under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS), enabling customers who install a Skystream wind turbine to qualify for the UK government´s Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs) or Clean Energy Cash-Back Scheme.

Introduced by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), the FiT system was developed to encourage small scale (less than 50kW), low carbon electricity generation. The tariffs became available on April 1, 2010 and are designed to significantly offset monthly costs with income received from renewable energy production. "Receiving the MCS certification marks a huge milestone for Southwest Windpower in the European market, " said Dixon Thayer, Chief Executive Officer of Southwest Windpower. "Through government incentives, wind energy will now be available at a competitive cost for consumers across the UK." Under the scheme, consumers who install MCS certified wind turbines (more than 1.5kW) will be paid 26.7p per kWh generated and receive an additional 3p for every kWh that is exported back to the grid. During the tariff´s 20-year lifespan, Southwest Windpower customers can expect to recoup their investment while reducing their energy costs.

Renewables supplied 12% less of the UK's electricity in the second quarter of 2010 than in the same period last year, according to the latest Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) statistics published today (September 30).

According to this month's issue of energy trends, the period saw electricity supplied from hydro fall by 32%, which has been attributed to less rainfall, while wind production saw an 11% decrease on last year's levels, reflecting lower wind speeds.

The figures were published alongside Feed-in Tariff (FiT) statistics covering installed capacity for the first quarter of the scheme (April 1 - June 30) - showing that 15.2MW of renewables capacity, across 2,771 installations, was included under the scheme by the end of the quarter.

According to the Department, the figures are based on date of confirmation so will include schemes installed prior to Q2 2010, but after July 2009.

The solar photovoltaics (PV) market has seen the biggest surge in interest since the introduction of the incentive scheme, with 98% (over 2,700) of all FiT installations being PV- the majority of which were retrofitted sub-4kW arrays mainly on domestic properties, says DECC.

However, due to the smaller size of these installations, DECC notes that they have actually only contributed 44% of the total FiT capacity so far, at 6.7MW.

Thursday, 7 October 2010

U.K. coal imports declined to the lowest level since 1999 in the second quarter as power generators used up stockpiles. Natural gas shipments rose as local supply fell and electricity generators favored the fuel. U.K. second-quarter coal imports declined 45 percent from a year earlier to 5.3 million metric tons, the Department of Energy and Climate Change said today in a quarterly report. Coal stockpiles were at 20.2 million tons at the end of June, 0.8 million tons lower than last year, the DECC said. About 80 percent of Britain's power stations are fed with fossil fuels and some utilities can switch feedstock depending on prices. Lower natural gas prices, relative to coal costs, raise the profitability from gas-fed stations. U.K. second-quarter natural commercial gas imports increased 54 percent to 128.2 terawatt-hours while exports advanced 28 percent to 58 terawatt-hours, the DECC said. Liquefied natural gas accounted for about a third of total imports, according to the department. Demand for the fuel rose 9.6 percent from a year earlier to 219.5 terawatt-hours. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-30/u-k-coal-imports-drop-to-eleven-year-low-gas-shipments-rise.html

One in five businesses registered for the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) scheme may have given the wrong information, according to research.

The scheme, which had a deadline of yesterday (September 30) to sign up to, has already been branded 'too complex' by the Committee on Climate Change. Energy firm npower has polled 100 UK financial directors revealing 23% found the process confusing. Another 24% also reported issues with compiling data from multiple sites across their business, and one in 10 didn't fully understand what was required of them to complete registration. Head of business energy services at npower, Dave Lewis, said: "If collecting the required information together was problematic, then going forward, many may well find the ongoing obligations of the scheme equally challenging. http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=18766

Ofgem is to undertake a comprehensive review of gas and electricity grid charges to ensure that a consistent approach is adopted for both.

Alistair Buchanan, Ofgem's chief executive, said that the so-called Project TransmiT will consider whether the way in which grid costs are shared between users needs reforming.

As a first step Ofgem will be seeking views on the scope and priorities for the review. Initial proposals will be published in spring 2011 with a decision on taking the proposals forward to follow in the summer.

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has made a recommendation to the UK government to re-design the recently-introduced Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) energy efficiency scheme in order to reduce its complexity before starting its second phase, which will last from 2013 to 2017.

Under the CRC scheme, large public and private sector organisations must buy allowances to cover their emissions produced from electricity and heat usage.

Following a recent study on the initiative, the CCC has made the recommendation that the scheme would benefit from being simplified.

The scheme is planned to set a cap from 2013 on emissions with a fixed number of allowances made available to organisations through an auction system.

However, the committee's analysis suggests that the already complex scheme would become increasingly so if a cap and auction system were to be introduced, which it said has no apparent benefits.

Monday, 4 October 2010

Creating electricity at home without having a negative impact on our environment is increasing in demand. Collecting the kinetic energy found in the wind is one way of doing this. This method does not use natural resources and is kind to the environment.

The sun heats the surface of our earth unevenly. This causes the air currents that are the force behind wind. The energy in the wind, kinetic energy, can be collected and turned into electricity with the use of turbines. As the wind turns the turbine blades, it creates a mechanical energy that, through the use of a generator is turned into electricity.

A horizontal axis turbine has blades that are very much like propellers on the front of an airplane. This is the most commonly used type of wind turbine used. A turbine that has blades from top to bottom is used lass often, and is called a vertical axis turbine.

Gas and electricity bills will both have to rise by £3 a year, as £32bn is needed to improve the UK's distribution infrastructure, the regulator has said.

Ofgem said energy firms needed to spend that sum over the next 10 years to "keep the lights on" and meet the government's green energy targets.

The energy regulator added that the £3 increase in bills applied to average UK homes each year over the next decade.

The £32bn investment target represents a 75% rise from the past 10 years.

Ofgem said the necessary £32bn investment in new electricity cables and gas piping was part of a required total £200bn additional spending in the UK's energy sector over the next decade.

Alistair Buchanan, Ofgem chief executive, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Our estimate at the moment is about a 6% increase on the current average family's total [annual electricity and gas ] bill [over the next decade].

Scottish and Southern Energy has reported that its customer base has broken the 10 million barrier for the first time ever.

The Perth-based utility said that customer numbers had jumped 375,000 over the past year.

In a stock market announcement ahead of the pre-close period before its results are announced in mid November, the company also said electricity production at its new Glendoe hydroelectric plant at Loch Ness should resume in the first half of 2012 now that construction of new tunnels at the plant is fully underway.

SSE had to shut the plant down in August 2009 after rock falls partially blocked the main tunnel carrying water from the reservoir to the power station. The shutdown has badly affected SSE's total power output, but had only a small impact on overall earnings.

The firm included the Glendoe update in an update of its five-year construction plan - which centers on building new wind capacity in the U.K.

The utility also raised the prospect of a small postponement in the startup of the 350-megawatt Clyde onshore wind farm as issues surrounding the impact of the turbines on the local air transport radar system are resolved.

SSE said: "This process may delay the start of electricity generation at Clyde but it is still expected to take place in the early part of the new financial year. The first turbines have now been delivered to the site. Installation work is due to start this autumn." http://www.business7.co.uk/business-news/latest-business-news/2010/09/29/scottish-and-southern-energy-passes-10-million-customer-mark-97298-22595277/

It added energy saving practices would have the joint effect of cutting hotel energy bills and reducing liabilities under the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) which requires businesses to cut their carbon footprint or face government fines.

Friday, 1 October 2010

Nearly two million homes overcharged for gas are to be refunded, in one of the biggest pay-outs of its kind.

Energy company Npower has agreed to hand back £70m following a long-running row over changes it made to the way it charged customers in 2007.

The firm admits it had not communicated the changes well, and £1.8m people are to receive an average refund of £35.

Npower says it will write to all those affected over the next two months, even if they are no longer customers.

In 2007, the company started charging households a fixed monthly number of more expensive initial gas units - known as primary block units. Previously the amount of primary units charged varied according to the time of year.

At the same time, Npower lowered prices and introduced some discounts. As a result, some low-use customers were billed for more than the usual number of primary units, leaving them out of pocket.

The company has always insisted most households benefited from the changes, but following an investigation by the industry regulator Ofgem, Npower initially agreed to repay 200,000 customers an average of £6 each.

In a statement, Npower said "Although the vast majority of our customers benefited from the combined effect of the changes, some, who were low users of gas, did not"

Watchdog Consumer Focus continued to campaign and some customers started legal action.

Npower conducted a review of everyone who was a gas customer at the time and it has now agreed to make a much bigger payment to 1.8 million people.

The refunds will range from £1 to £100, with an average refund of £35.

In a statement, Npower said "We're sorry that the complexity of the changes we made caused confusion. We're now doing all we can to improve our communication with customers."

Npower, which has 6.5 million customers in the UK, will be writing to those affected and offering payments that can be cashed at the Post Office.

Head of Consumer Focus Mike O'Connor said it was an "excellent outcome" and showed a "major commitment from Npower to its customers".

"Consumer Focus has worked closely with Npower to ensure that refunds are made fairly and that no customer loses out," he said.

"A huge amount of work and collaboration has resulted in the right thing being done by Npower for its customers and we welcome this.

"It has been an great example of how consumer organisations can work with industry to deliver a fair deal for consumers."

Energylinx is delighted with the move as it shows just how much the market has moved on since it was privatised as previously the voices of consumers would have gone unheard.

Regardless of this positive gesture from npower, Energylinx would encourage all customers to carry out a comparison as soon as possible. With winter fast approaching the typical customer will see their day to day consumption increase by as much as 400% in coming months so now is the time to get onto the best tariff.

An independent energy broker says the CRC scheme must continue to focus on its goal of national carbon reduction and not on revenue generation for the Government.

Despite threats of fines, only 2,598 from the expected 5-6,000 large organisations have registered for the CRC in time to meet today's deadline, and many smaller companies have been unable to submit information and complete the registration process on time. Leading energy procurement experts at Bergen Energi UK say the lower-than-expected registration figures prove the administrative burden and level of bureaucracy involved of complying with CRC regulations has been too great and too slow a process.

Bergen Energi UK has urged the Government to be as lenient as possible on those companies and work with them to help them register successfully as quickly as possible - without levying potentially crippling penalties.

The Environment Agency is now due to administer fines of £5,000 to businesses for non-registration and £500 per day for further non-compliance.

Richard Southgate Vice President, Bergen Energi UK said: "There had to be a cut-off point, and the idea of using fines as a threat to make more companies take part in the CRC was appropriate up to a point, but hitting already-struggling companies with fines will have irreversible repercussions for many firms especially in this economic climate. http://www.cisionwire.com/adessi/crc-scheme-must-continue-to-focus-on-carbon-reduction-and-not-on-fining-administration--energy-experts-warn